Made In Sheffield - Now Then

Technology is not really my thing.
Getting to grips with it quickly does not
come particularly naturally to me. This is
a pity because it features rather heavily in
my subject - Broadcast Journalism. And
technology is playing an increasingly
important role for reporters.
Where there used to be television reporters there are now
multi-skilled ‘video-journalists’ – people who no longer work
in small teams, but who are expected to do the reporting,
filming and editing on their own. The main reason for this
development, of course, is financial. It is cheaper to get
one person to do the whole lot than pay expensive crews
for their time. But who knows, reporters having to do three
jobs rolled into one on a day to day basis may simply lead
to burn-out. Quality of television news output may suffer
(some would say it already has) and ultimately television
executives may be forced to go full circle and re-employ all
those cameramen and editors they laid off.
New technology is everywhere. And it seems to come
so naturally to young people. The younger they are the
more affinity they seem to have with all things technical.
My six year old daughter Nikki knows more about how
to use my computer, mobile phone and iPod than I do!
But, despite my rather difficult personal relationship with
new technology, I absolutely believe that it should be
embraced. It has an increasingly crucial place in Higher
Education teaching which cannot and must not be ignored
by academics. Here’s an example of how new technology
has helped improve one of my courses.
My students have to learn how to use a particular radio
computer programme to write news scripts, embed audio
and compile radio news bulletins. The programme is called
Burli. It is not complicated (even I managed to master it
pretty quickly) but there is a fair amount to take in if you
have not used a newsroom computer system before.
Having to teach this programme to around 60 students,
split into five groups of 12 for workshops, became a
nightmare situation. Only three workshops out of the 12
teaching weeks could be dedicated to learning Burli, but
the students were also expected to learn how to adapt their
writing for radio, record their voice, edit their material and
use different types of radio news formats during their three
sessions. It was a serious challenge. The students inevitably
worked at varying paces. I would try to go round and talk
to each person as they worked, but it was time consuming.
Having to repeat this procedure five times over with the five
different workshop groups felt like a very unsatisfactory use
of time, both for me and for the students. A solution was
needed – and fast!! What I did was to work with a colleague
to come up with an online tutorial in Burli which used a type
of screencast. My colleague recorded her voice giving
step by step instructions, while an interactive screen would
show the mouse arrow clicking on various icons in Burli to
demonstrate. It was ingenious, and also very efficient on
time. I now have a new system. I ask the students to prepare
for each workshop session by following the relevant online
Burli tutorial which can be found on our Journalism Studies
intranet. It has worked wonders. They do it, they understand
it, and they arrive at the workshop sessions with a basic
knowledge of the programme. This enables me to dedicate
the precious time we have to teaching radio journalism,
rather than which buttons to press. The sessions are less
pressured and students can work on exercises in their own
time while getting one to one feedback from me.
New technology does have to be used carefully
though. PowerPoint is a good example of a technological
development which can add so much to lectures when
used well, but is also often abused and used very badly.
Students sometimes complain that all a lecturer does is
repeat what is on the slide in front of them, and in this case
it is easy to see why they may prefer to simply have the
notes rather than go to the lecture. I have seen lecturers
‘hide’ behind their PP displays in a way that puts them
into the background and their fancy slides in the forefront.
The lectures which seem to have the most impact on
students are those where the lecturer finds a way to interact
with them, engage them, and it often has nothing to do
with whether they use PP or not. In fact, students have
sometimes said they find it refreshing when there is no PP
used!
There is no doubt that e-learning opens up access to
educational opportunities to an amazing degree, but
developments such as putting lecture notes up on the
internet is controversial and I can understand why some
academics (some of my colleagues included) are reluctant
to do this. As well as copyright issues there is the worry that
students will feel there is no point in attending lectures as
the information is readily available. This could be seen as
posing a threat to the role of a lecturer and raises questions
over the purpose of teaching itself.
But I do not go along with this. By allowing our lecture
notes to be ‘open to all’ we are simply allowing information
to be transmitted. This is only part of understanding.
Understanding itself cannot be transmitted. A big part of
learning is about dialogue and interaction between student
and teacher. This is why, in my experience, workshop
teaching in small groups is so much more effective than the
traditional ‘lecture’.
A colleague based in the English Literature department
told me something rather interesting. A blog had been set
up for his students encouraging them to write their response
to certain pieces of literature. They produced some
impressive writing on the web. The students were creative,
free-flowing and wrote incredibly well. When asked to do
something similar in the form of an essay the standard of
writing went right down. The essay-writing was dry, turgid
and boring!! Analyse that as you will….
New technology should be tried, tested and
experimented with. We, as educators, should be openminded
about absolutely anything that may enhance
student learning. However, judgements should be made
and the fundamentals of teaching should not be forgotten.
In my experience, you cannot beat face to face teaching –
particularly one-to-one time with students.
Now, Nikki, how do you work this DVD player?!
KATIE STEWART.
NEW TECHNOLOGY.
BRAVE NEW WORLD.
PAGe thirty-nine.